@article{ref1,
title="Dog and cat ownership predicts adolescents' mental well-being: a population-based longitudinal study",
journal="International journal of environmental research and public health",
year="2020",
author="Endo, Kaori and Yamasaki, Syudo and Ando, Shuntaro and Kikusui, Takefumi and Mogi, Kazutaka and Nagasawa, Miho and Kamimura, Itsuka and Ishihara, Junko and Nakanishi, Miharu and Usami, Satoshi and Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, Mariko and Kasai, Kiyoto and Nishida, Atsushi",
volume="17",
number="3",
pages="e884-e884",
abstract="A potential association between pet ownership and mental well-being is suggested, but there is a shortage of high-quality longitudinal studies that consider probable differences among different species. We aimed to examine whether ownership of the most popular pets (dogs and cats) would predict mental well-being. The Tokyo Teen Cohort (TTC), a prospective population-based birth cohort study, had dog and cat ownership data at age 10 and mental well-being score at ages 10 and 12 from 2584 adolescents. Linear regression analysis with adjusting for covariates showed that dog ownership had a positive effect on mental well-being compared to no dog ownership, however, cat ownership had a negative effect compared to no cat ownership. Two-factor mixed-design analysis of variance showed that dog ownership predicted maintained mental well-being, while cat ownership predicted progressing decline of mental well-being. Thus, dog and cat ownership may have different effects on adolescents' mental well-being, implying that the underlying mechanisms that are activated by these types of ownership may differ.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1661-7827",
doi="10.3390/ijerph17030884",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030884"
}